Biggest Loser Resort - Day One!!!!!

I cannot stop smiling.  I'm sure that once I've had my first workout, that will change but today...I cannot stop smiling.

I had an early flight out of Salt Lake this morning, and being so excited about my trip, I was up at 3am. Needless to say it's been a long day.  I took the opportunity to spend an hour snuggling my babies who cried about me leaving them.  I feel so loved!  I landed in Chicago to quite the downpour of rain, but it wasn't going to dampen my spirits.  I got off the plane and saw Amy, finally getting to meet her for the first time. That sweet, crazy lady had stayed long after her own flight arrived to wait for me so that we could meet and travel to the resort together.  I can't believe today was the first time I've ever met her in person.  It feels like we've known one another for years.  I'm so grateful for her friendship.

We caught our shuttle to the resort and were lucky to make it there alive, the way this guy drove.  He took up two lanes and drove like a maniac.  But we managed to get there eventually.

As we walked into the reception area, we were greeted by a very familiar face!!

Mark from Season 10 of the Biggest Loser!  He runs the program here and he is just pure AWESOME.  He gave us the tour and got us hooked up with Symphony (one of the trainers here) for our initial health assessment.  Here's where I stand as we get started (keep in mind this was fully clothed and after a day of traveling and having eaten out the night before lol.  My actual weight is probably a good 7 lbs lower than this, but this is the official numbers:

Weight: 237.7
Lean Body Mass - 140lbs
Body fat mass - 97.7lbs
Body Mass Index - 34.1
Percentage of body fat - 41.1%

It will be interesting to see where things stand come Sunday morning!

We finally got settled into our rooms (mine seems to have had a window left open during the rain and has a bit of a musty smell to it now but I'll live).  And then we headed to dinner.  I was curious how the food here would taste seeing as how it is being tailored to our diet and is all super healthy.  WOW it was amazing.  We had a salad bar first, which was of course delicious, but the best part was when they brought out the main course.  Chicken masala.  For UNDER 400 calories we had this delicious chicken and peas drenched in the same basic sauce you get in any Indian restaurant.  I've never loved peas more.  The curry flavored sauce was absolutely amazing.  And then we got a cookie for dessert!  It was only 138 cals and it was pretty big.  It took me a while to eat and was so good.  When they told us we get dessert every night, I couldn't believe it haha.  I'm sure we'll burn it off in the first few minutes tomorrow.

At the end of dinner came the part I've been waiting 3 months for.  Olivia, Hannah and Ben (Olivia's hubby) walked in.  I managed to resist the urge to scream and fan my face while crying.  That alone earned me a cookie.  Once they'd eaten, Hannah came over to introduce herself to me and we just sat and talked for a while.  It was like talking to someone I've known forever.  Obviously I feel that way because I watched them both on Biggest Loser and have followed their blogs/vlogs and twitter, etc.  But still haha.  And then as we all headed to the conference room for orientation, I got to meet Olivia.  She gave me the biggest hug and I just felt so unbelievably happy.  And holy cow is she tall!  Well both of them are, but for some reason I was sure she was shorter haha. I am truly blessed to have this opportunity and am so grateful to the both of them for getting me here.

In orientation, Mark ran us through the schedule and what goes on while we're here.  It's going to be hard work.  They call Wednesday "Weepy Wednesday" if that's any clue haha.  But I cannot wait to get started.  We went around the room and everyone introduced themselves (there's only 18 people here...can you believe that???)  Olivia introduced me as their "special guest" and told everyone that I'd won the trip here and that them being here was part of the prize.  I'm sure I blushed 10 shades of red, but who cares.  I was sitting next to Olivia Ward!!! *fans self*  I took my turn to introduce myself and told everyone a bit about my journey...how watching the sisters on BL11 had inspired and motivated me to finally start my own journey and how this week will get me on  my way towards losing the last 60-70lbs.  There are some amazing people here with some really great stories and I look forward to getting to know them all over the course of the week.  I know I'm going to go home with so many new and amazing friends.

After orientation we just hung out and chatted a bit before heading back to our rooms.  We have MANDATORY workouts at 6am every day so I definitely need some sleep.  This is going to be an amazing week.  I am so grateful to my husband, Nathan, for taking the time off work to take care of the kids so that I could come and experience this.  It truly is the most amazing thing I could ever ask for and I intend to soak up every single second.  Until tomorrow!